julies

And, we'll maybe go for six weeks! Are we nuts? I need some advice. We have never taken a trip of this length before, and we've never visited India, but this is a unique time in our lives to have the option to do this, and at the right time of year for optimal weather for tourism in India--January into March. And, we are getting older (yikes, early mid-60s), so we are starting to watch the clock tick as far as how much longer we'll really be able to tackle exhausting, physical travel.

Background: We are experienced, independent travelers who have visited many international destinations, including developing countries. Other than a couple trips where we used agencies to arrange short parts ( 4 or 5 day segments) of our trips for activities that are impossible to arrange on one's own, I make all of the arrangements on my own. Our profile is more eco-tourist (budget to moderate range) than upscale, and we prefer the authentic to manufactured-for-tourists. We have done enough traveling to know exactly what we like and what we don't like to do and the types of activities and locales that will catch our interest. These are the types of things I am planning--very little time in big cities, lots of rural locales with opportunities for active pursuits, not a ton of temples and forts, and a mix of types of the usual tourist activities but also possibly including cycling, fishing, horse-riding, along with lots of walking. And, of course, we don't plan way too far out into the future since we are actually contemplating leaving in mid to late Jan. (Yes, that is 2012, not 2013).

Here is roughly what I am contemplating, if we do take six weeks, to get a taste of three very different areas of India: About two weeks on the south--Kochi, the backwaters, some hill country like Munnar or Coorg, and Mysore. You get the drift--exact locales and # of days yet to be decided upon.

Then, I want to fly to Indore to visit Mandu (supposedly a fabulous but little-touristed location). From there we'd dip into southern Rajasthan to visit some of the lesser-touristed locales and Bundi and probably also Udaipur and maybe the area around Jodphur. (And, yes, we are skipping the Taj Mahal because neither one of us has a burning desire to visit it.) We'd take about another two weeks here and limit ourselves to 4 (or max 5) different locations because we hate to just pack up and go all of the time. We are definitely the type of travelers who believe less is more and don't go frantically rushing around to tick another place off our lists. Normally we like to do bases we operate out of, but this just doesn't seem to work for India.

Here is where it gets iffy, and I can't figure out the logistics. (Or, maybe I've already messed it up as far as possible itinerary ideas.) My one absolute must-visit place is Varanasi. I can't figure out how to logically get this into our itinerary.

The last hunk of India we want to visit is Assam in far NE India, and we'd fly there. There we want to go see the rhinos at Kaziranga national park, and I've found a fabulous sounding organization up in the hills that does a homestay with day treks to local villages so we'd spent 3 to 4 days there. And, maybe another area called Cherrapunjee in Meghalaya where there are some fascinating walks in the hills to incredible living roots bridges. From there we would fly back from Assam to our city of departure. ?? Calcutta and stay there for a day or two before flying out. This would be the only one of the big 3 India cities we'd visit.

So, for transportation we'd have a couple of internal flights. And, we'll have something arranged ahead of time, so that someone is holding up a sign with our names on it the first second we arive in India. We aren't averse to taking the train (including 1or possibly 3 overnight trips), but we'd only do this if it is the most logical way to get between places. We'll hire drivers part of the time, but we wouldn't sign up ahead of time for drivers for the entire trip. In Peru and Nicaragua we were easily able to find drivers after we arrived working with our hotels or local agencies or free-lancers. Vietnam we had it arranged before we arrived.

Question #1. Are we crazy to contemplate this trip? I think I have learned from reading other people's experiences how to avoid India burn-out (I think). And, I have read blogs by other people our ages who have traveled for 3 months in India and kind of winged it and lived and enjoyed it.

Question #2. Am I being overly ambitious and cramming too much into each of my 3 locales?

Question #3. How do I get Varranasi to work into this?

Question #4. I can't quite figure out the international airport entry and exit points. I've been looking at internationsl airfares, and there are quite a few variations I can play with. I could go right into Banglore and from there head to Mysore for our first few days. Or, I could fly into Kochi directly, unfortuntely arriving at 3:00 am. If I want to get FF miles and have the quickest trip, the best bet is to do Dehli and then move on from there with an internal flight to the south. At the end of the trip we could fly into Calcutta from Assam and then fly home from there. But, I don't even know if Calcutta is worth a day or two. Or, we could fly from Assam to Delhi and just sit in the airport until our flight home (separately booked flights). Obviously, I am trying to get all of this sorted out as far as length of stay, itinerary etc. before booking tickets from the US. Thoughts on airport entry and exit points?

Question #5. Is Kolkota worth a day or two? Or, should we just skip it as we are also skipping Delhi and Mumbai?

And, I still have to run the entire plan, including pricing, by my husband! I think he is now with me on the idea of this trip, but I'm the one who has spend a gazillion hours reading and researching and planning. And, as he says, he doesn't want this trip to bankrupt us right before we head into retirement. So, we won't be staying at the places many of you more high-end travelers have stayed.

Thoughts? Thanks.

ddreher

you sound like me but in reverse, my wife is the easy rider - i do all the reading and planning and she travels. we are considering a similar trip. i'll watch responses to your posting.

we also travel 2-3 stars on most trips and wander if you can do this in india.

thursdaysd

Great that you got your husband convinced!

Looks like you're trying to cram too much into the last two weeks. I do think Kolkata is worth a look, especially if you're skipping Delhi and Mumbai. I liked it the best of the four big cities - but I was there for a major festival.

Kathie

We were surprised by how much we enjoyed Kolkata. You can read about it at the end of my trip report from 2010, http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...p-to-india.cfm

If you opt for a couple of days in Kolkata, I can't speak highly enough of Calcutta Walks.

Before we decided on last year's trip, I had planned out a trip to Assam. I think it sounds like a fascinating area.

julies

Thanks. 2 votes for Kolkota as being worthwhile.

Any suggestions on how to make Varanasi fit in this itinerary?

thursdaysd

Well, you can fly from Jodhpur to Delhi on Jet Airways, and from Delhi to Varanasi on Kingfisher. Don't know whether you'd have to overnight in Delhi. Then you can fly or take the night train to Kolkata, since you probably need to start there for the next section of your trip.

julies

Now I have another half-cocked idea I am going to at least think about. Wew could fly to Delhi from the US and then do Varanasi as our feet-in-the-fire on the ground introduction to India for 4 days. (I remember reading that someone on this forum did tha.) Then, go to the south and start that portion of the trip, and I wouldn't need to try to figure out how to fit Varanasi in.

Or, we could fly to Jodphur from the south and then make our way south on the Rajaasthan portion, ending up in Mandu so I could use Indore as a station to make my way to Varanasi.

Thanks again.

And, you're right. Looking at the last portion of my proposal, there is too much stuff in there. I think the area with the living bridges will have to go.

magical

Love your adventurous thinking. I am sure you will enjoy your trip whatever plan you develop.

I would just like to point out that New Delhi is a major hub in India. So if you think you'll fly to Jodhpur and then go to south...just remember that the flight will go thru Delhi. Same thing about Varanasi.

If it was me, I would fly from US to Delhi...must start with the Taj...it's only one overnight in Agra...and start you off in a positive mindset...before the major sensory overload. Are you sure that you'll go to India, for the first time, and leave without seeing Taj Mahal? What will your mother say?

North India is where 80% of India's history has occurred...the Aryan history. But complex...Hindu,Jain,Sikh, Moghul, and latest Brit history. South India is Dravidian culture and different...Hinduism in it's pure form and Christainity..apostle John(?) was in south India. But both are India experiences.

Hope this helps.

magical

Also Buddhism in north India...it was started by Gautam Buddha, a Hindu prince. Can't forget Buddhism, although it is no longer a major religion in India, it has been prime religion atleast twice in India. First stint was 900 years long, second time for about 400 years.

lcuy

Well, I may be the voice of dissent here.

As much as I love India, I would not go more than three or four weeks at the most. I always find I find I just get worn out after about 3 few weeks.

If it were me, I'd do four weeks in India, then go somewhere different for the other two. But it's not me, so you will do what suits your personalities!

kmkrnn

If you are putiing Calcuta in the mix it is easy to fly to Varanasi from there and back, or from Delhi. I agree that the Taj is a must see. It has a magical feeling, and the beauty at any time of day is truly memorable. Even Bob liked it.

After 4 weeks we were glad to get back to where you cold take a shower without having to remember not to get the water in your nose or mouth. Picking and choosing foods with care gets to be a bit of a drag after a while, and even then we both had issues. They were easily corrected with antibiotics, but even the carfullest decision is not always a goood one. After all "It's India!"

I think that your decision to stay out of big citties is a good one. We often remarked that the people who saw Delhi, Agra and Jaipur ( as we did the first time) get an impression of India as being big,dirty, over crowded cities. There is so much more out side of the touist areas. Look at some of the heritage properties. Some are extremly reasonable and lovely. Enjoy.

julies

To me only going to the big cities in India is like a first time tourist coming to the US and seeing New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and assuming that is what the entire US is like. Plus, I know that here and in Europe (where we have also made lots of trips) we tend to focus on different places than the big-name big cities becasue we've discovered that is where we most enjoy ourselves.

Yeah, yeah maybe we should add in a quick stop at the Taj Mahal. But, every extra place I add in means one less day I can spend someplace else. Even though 6 weeks sounds like a very, very long time, as I start to try to put all of this together I am quickly finding out that I probably already will have to do some cuttting form what I thought was a condensed list already. And, I too am a bit leery about 6 weeks and being fed up and exhausted, so that is why I am trying to balance this out with some truly rural places where we can get away from the chaos and do some low-key hiking or just sit around for an afternoon in a beautiful environment and enjoy the surroundings while we take a break from traveling and read for a while.

Thanks again.

If need be, would you cut Jodphur area or Kolkota?

thursdaysd

Equally, though, would you advise a first-time visitor NOT to see New York or Chicago or San Francisco? I take your point, but I think you should go for a mix. I also understand your reluctance to give somewhere else up for theTaj, and Agra is the single worst place for hassles, but until you actually see the Taj, you don't realize how magical it is (and I'm not talking romantic).

atravelynn

"Yeah, yeah maybe we should add in a quick stop at the Taj Mahal."

If you were in Western Europe (somewhat comparable in geographic size to India) for 6 weeks, I'd say, "yeah, yeah, maybe you should add in a quick stop to the Eiffel Tower."

The Taj Mahal is not just a building, it is a masterpiece. A crown palace--that's the direct translation.

I'm not a big buildings or man-made marvel person, I prefer nature-made, but I was most impressed and taken with this beautiful structure. You owe it to yourself to take just hours out of 6 weeks to see it. That's all I spent--arrived by train about 4:15 am and was on my way elsewhere well before noon. Time very well spent.

Although this costs more, I had almost no hassles because I had a private guide at the Taj Mahal. Actually, I had 2 private guides because--plug for Wild World India--one of the company associates kindly joined me for part of the trip, which included Taj Mahal. But you don't need 2 handlers to ward off the many hawkers of souvenirs.

Why not chill out from the city in a place like Kanha or Corbett? Enjoy the nature, maybe see a tiger or in Corbett some elephants.

julies

I'm now thinking of making a quick stop to see the Taj Mahal, only because it does seem to be within the loop as far as transportation goes. I had to laugh at the Eiffel Tower analogy. We've spent about 2 weeks in Paris and have yet to make it inside the Louvre. But, we've visited and thoroughly enjoyed many of the smaller, lesser-known museums in Paris.

Frankly, we are also a bit ambivalent about the Taj Mahal because we've been to the Alhambra (both day and night visits) while is right up there with the Taj Mahal as far as famous edifices, and while it is nice and I can now picture in my mind how it is set up and where it is located, it certainly doesn't count among my top travel experiences. Nor, does Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Machhu Pichu, on the other hand, does.

Yes, we will be adding in some parks for the experience of more natural India.

Once again, thanks for all of the assistance.

rhkkmk

i can tell you neither of those bldgs hold a candle to the Taj

magical

Hear, hear!!
I second rhkkmk's comments about those other buildings....Taj is more than a building...you have to be there to appreciate it, no matter how many photos you have previously seen.

CaliNurse

Julie, what it the homestay/orianizati0n that does the treks to villages in Assam? Sounds great!!!

dogster

Cali - look in here:
http://www.i-escape.com/india/boutique-hotels

julies

http://www.awakeandshine.org/vill-tours-vt01.html

I think we definitely will do this one, staying at Samthar Farmhouse and using it for day treks to the different villages. Spoke to someone who'd done the treks to the differenthomestays, and he said if they had it to do again, they'd probably do it that way rather than the homestay village to village trek.

Okay, you are all making me rethink the Taj Mahal bit, especially since going through Delhi may be the best way to tie in Varanasi.